Gloves have a wide variety of constructions that are utilized to enable the glove to closely conform to the shape of the hand of the individual wearing the glove. The ability of a glove to conform to the wearer's hand is normally determined by the particular material utilized in the construction of the glove. More particularly, certain types of materials have inherent properties that enable the materials to more or less closely conform to the shape of the hand of an individual positioned within the glove.
For example, when a glove is formed of a natural material, such as leather, a glove will stretch only a limited amount conform to the hand position within the glove as a result of the natural properties of the material, which do not provide a significant amount of stretching to the material. In contrast, other, more flexible or elastic materials, such as Spandex® or Lycra®, have properties that enable these types of materials to stretch much more than natural materials.
However, regardless of the particular material utilized to form a glove, oftentimes the glove does not adequately conform to the shape of the hand of the wearer for various reasons, such as the material or materials forming the glove, or the shape of the glove or the shape of the hand of the wearer, among others. In these situations where the glove does not conform to the hand of the wearer, a shown in FIG. 4, when the glove 10′ is flexed by the movement of a hand therein, the material forming the glove will create wrinkles 14′ or bunch, particularly across the palm 12′ of the glove, causing significant problems with regard to the ability of the individual to grasp or hold objects while wearing the glove 10′. In addition, this bunching 14′ will cause premature and uneven wear of certain parts of the glove 10′, namely those portions 16′ that are urged outwardly due the bunching of the glove material, thereby lessening the effective life of the glove 10′.
In order to form a glove construction that more adequately adapts to the shape of a wearer's hand to reduce the bunching or wrinkling of the glove when in use, various alternative glove constructions have been developed. These constructions include gloves designed through the use of various measurements taken around the hand of an individual, as disclosed in Weiser U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,627. These measurements are utilized to design a glove that has an oval cross-section around the palm of the glove that closely conforms to the palm of the hand in order to prevent this material covering the palm from wrinkling or bunching while the individual closes his or her hand within the glove.
However, this process and glove design has significant drawbacks in that it requires detailed measurements to be taken of the hand, and requires that the glove be formed of two components stitched together along this oval cross-section, such that the seam is positioned directly across the palm of the glove in a highly undesirable position.
In addition, other glove constructions have been developed to reduce the bunching or wrinkling of a glove that utilize a single aperture formed in the glove material on the palm, such disclosed in Chen U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,830. This aperture, which can be covered by a strip or section formed of a suitable lining material, allows for the contraction of the material forming the palm of the glove to essentially open and close the apertures when the glove is flexed between closed and extended positions, thereby diminishing the amount of wrinkling or bunching of the material.
However this revised glove construction does not adequately address the problem of the bunching of the glove material, as the aperture only provides a limited amount of space for the glove material to be compressed prior to the material bunching as in prior glove designs. Additionally, the material strip attached to the glove to cover the apertures often bunches inwardly when the material forming the palm of the glove is contracted, thereby causing an additional bunching problem when utilizing the glove.
Therefore, it is desirable to develop a new glove construction that will not significantly wrinkle or bunch when the glove is flexed by an individual wearing the glove. It is also desirable that the ability of the glove to avoid bunching and winkling extend through the shell of the glove to any liner or insulating layer of the glove as well.